Jussi, the best way to answer this question is to find somebody who is not as lazy as I am to translate the chapter in Haryo Guritno's "Keris Jawa" and post it along with copies of the photos.
I will not do this because it would take too long, and from my perspective would be knowledge for the sake of knowledge for 99.9% of the people who contribute to these discussions.
Very briefly, there are two types of gold ornamentation for blades:- kinatah (tinatah) and sinrasah (srasah, sinarasah).
Kinatah is the Indonesian equivalent of koftgari and the most usual method of application of the gold is by a similar method, ie, carve the foundation for the ornamentation in relief and roughen the surface with chisel cuts, then apply the gold leaf. There are other less traditional and much less good methods.
Sinarasah involves making a hole in the blade. The bottom of the hole is wider than the top, gold is hammered into the hole and smoothed level with the blade surface. This is used for calligraphy mostly. Sometimes this method can be used as a sort of substitute for kinatah, when a big lump of gold is left proud of the blade surface, and then that lump of gold is carved.
Where the iron is carved it is done by the blade maker. The gold work is done by a gold worker.
In strict terms the only material used for kinatah must be gold.
The reasons for kinatah can be purely artistic, or in times past to indicate social or hierarchical position. Outside the kraton:- social position, thus related to social power and economic wealth; inside the kraton to hierarchical position.
The above remarks apply only to Jawa and Bali. I am not able to comment on kinatah ornamentation as used in other locations.
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